BioEthics, 13 May 2010.

Chemical weapons attacks by terrorist organizations are a major concern of the defense agencies in the United States and other countries. Given this, it is vital to have adequate arrangements for the decontamination of affected buildings, in order to realize their reuse in the shortest possible time.

An investigation by engineers and specialists from the University of Vermont seeks to create effective techniques for this purpose, concentrating particularly on the heritage buildings and public use.

A chemical weapons attack could put a building of public interest or historical value. With the aim of having tools that minimize the impact of such attacks on the structures, experts from the University of Vermont have developed innovative techniques in this regard. This is an important goal for security and defense in the fight against terrorism, not only in America but also in other nations to adopt these new systems.

Laura Townsend is the specialist who has developed a thesis on this subject, with the assistance of other experts from the Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences from the University of Vermont. In addition, the project has the support of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

Townsend’s thesis has been the trigger of the progress achieved. In this investigation, the specialist was to evaluate the effects of erosion of different construction materials from liquids. Subsequently, the purpose was to analyze what happens to the structures if these fluids come from a chemical attack.

Send Dewoolkar teachers and Donna Townsend advised Rizzo in this investigation. The same results were disseminated through a specialized environment Physorg article.com, plus a press release from the University of Vermont.

The reaction of buildings and other materials

The aim of the research is to understand the structure of porous building materials commonly used, with the ultimate aim of developing strategies for decontamination in case of attack. However, each material operates in a completely different way, according to its properties and circumstances.

Experts cite the example of a block of wet concrete and other settled for 10 years: the behavior of materials will not be the same. The question to address is therefore how chemical pollution affect these materials and how they can clean them for reuse.

Affected by a chemical weapon, the structure can be dangerously eroded in many cases requiring complex treatment to restore. However, different low permeability sandstones analyzed in the context of that research, has the least impact due to the conditions of a hypothetical chemical attack.

Townsend and his colleagues have faced especially the analysis of heritage buildings and public in the United States, as the White House, the Library of Congress, museums, hospitals, military bases, bridges and tracks landing, among other places of greatest importance to the social level that would require, in the event of a chemical attack, rapid decontamination can continue to function normally.

Research details

Vermont engineers worked on the hydraulic conductivity and gas permeability of materials like sandstone, limestone, brick and concrete four different shapes. With machines like the Autoscan II, which measures the gas permeability on the surface of materials, is seeking to create the conditions for rapid decontamination of these structures after an attack.

different materials are subjected to various processes in order to evaluate their degree of sensitivity to a chemical attack. An accurate measure of the permeability of the same, or saturation for specific details on its hydraulic conductivity, for example, are some of the variables.

progress achieved in this research can also serve for the construction industry take them into account when developing new structures, and conformations using mixtures of materials that reduce their vulnerability to chemical attack.

Townsend’s work and the team at the University of Vermont was presented at the national meeting of the American Geophysical Union last December, and has also won major awards and grants, including an award from the Foundation and distinctions Barrett to other reputable organizations.

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